IT STARTS

in the Schools

January 2015

UPCOMING EVENTS

January 6 - 28 Board-wide TDCAA Girls Volleyball

January 6-22 Board-wide TDCAA Girls/Boys Hockey

January 6-27 Board-wide TDCAA Boys Basketball

January 12-16 Mary Ward Catholic Secondary

School

3200 Kennedy Road, Scarborough

416.393.5544

Our Kids Our Future week

January 13 Father Serra Catholic School

111 Sun Row Drive, Weston

416.393.5391

Lunchtime Yoga for students begins

January 14 St. Bonaventure Catholic School

1340 Leslie Street, Don Mills

416.393.5263

Extended French information evening

6:30 p.m.

January 14 St. John Catholic School

780 Kingston Road, Toronto

416.393.5220

Extended French information evening

6:30 p.m.

January 15 Msgr Fraser College

All Campuses Open House

9 a.m. – 12 p.m.

January 15 St. Agatha Catholic School

49 Cathedral Bluffs Drive, Scarborough

416.393.5302

French Immersion information evening

6:30 p.m.

January 15 James Culnan Catholic School

605 Willard Avenue, Toronto

416.393.5325

French Immersion information evening

7 p.m.

January 16 Board-wide Nominations due for TCDSB Alumni

and Merit Awards

Do you know a member of our community

who is a witness to the gospel values

of our Catholic faith and who is

transforming the world through faith,

innovation and action? Nominate them for

an award.

January 19 Father Serra Catholic School

111 Sun Row Drive, Weston

416.393.5391

After school Math Workshops for Grade

1 teachers for family of schools

January 19 Mary Ward Catholic Secondary

School

3200 Kennedy Road, Scarborough

416.393.5544

Specialist High Skills Major day

Health care and Construction

January 20 St. Jane Frances Catholic School

2745 Jane Street, Downsview

416.393.5296

Interactive Parent Fair

5:30 p.m.

January 20 Our Lady of Wisdom Catholic School

10 Japonica Road, Scarborough

416.393.5273

French Immersion information evening

6 p.m.

January 21 Marshall McLuhan Catholic

Secondary School

1107 Avenue Road, Toronto

416.393.5561

Assembly to Celebrate Successful

Advent Campaign

Presentation of cheque for $15,420 to

Dave Dryden in support of Sleeping

Children Around the World

1:45 p.m.

January 21 All Saints Catholic School

1435 Royal York Road, Weston

416.393.5290

Extended French information evening

7 p.m.

January 21 Nativity of our Lord Catholic School

35 Saffron Crescent, Etobicoke

416.393.5288

Extended French information evening

7 p.m.

January 22 Blessed Sacrament Catholic School

24 Bedford Park Avenue, Toronto

416.393.5226

Extended French information evening

7 p.m.

January 22 Our Lady of Fatima Catholic School

3176 St Clair Avenue East,

Scarborough

416.393.5252

Extended French information evening

7 p.m.

January 22 St. Maria Goretti Catholic School

21 Kenmark Boulevard, Scarborough

416.393.5260

Interactive Parent Fair

5:30 p.m.

January 26 Catholic Education Centre

80 Sheppard Avenue East, North York

416.222.8282

OAPCE Toronto Meeting

7 p.m.

January 26 St. Richard Catholic School

960 Bellamy Road North, Scarborough

416.393.5301

Extended French information evening

7 p.m.

January 26-30 Various TCDSB Schools iLITE

Elementary Student Leadership Sessions

January 27 Board-wide Family Literacy Day

January 28 Mary Ward Catholic Secondary

School

3200 Kennedy Road, Scarborough

416.393.5544

Grade 12 Day of Service

January 29 Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati

Catholic School

8 Seasons Drive, Scarborough

416.393.5456

French Immersion information evening

6 p.m.

January 29 Father Serra Catholic School

111 Sun Row Drive, Weston

416.393.5391

Student Leaders work at St. Francis Table

January 30 Mary Ward Catholic Secondary

School

3200 Kennedy Road, Scarborough

416.393.5544

Mary Ward Winter Activity Day

January 30 St. Leo Catholic School

165 Stanley Avenue, Toronto

416.393.5333

Black History Month Presentation

Little Red Theatre Presentation: “Anansi”.

RECENT HIGHLIGHTS

Madonna Students Collaborate for

Climate Change Conference Madonna students gather to attend a web

conference with several other schools across

Canada to discuss climate change. Students

contributed to “A National Virtual Town Hall

COP20: Canadian Youth Whitepaper on

Climate Change,” which was presented at the

recent United Nations Climate Change

Conference (COP20) in Lima, Peru.

St. Andrew Catholic School 50th Anniversary Celebrations on December 1st

TCDSB Students Make a Splash at the 6th Annual Cardboard Boat Race Students from elementary schools across the Toronto Catholic District School Board competed at the

annual cardboard boat races on December 2nd. Congratulations to the winning teams:

First place – St. Raymond Catholic School

Second place – Annunciation Catholic School

Third place – James Culnan Catholic School

Inaugural Meeting of the Board The new Board of Trustees was sworn in at

the Inaugural meeting held on December 1st.

On hand for the celebration were Bishop

Boissonneau, representatives from employee

federations, TDSB, the Angel Foundation for

Learning and other education partners.

The Board ratified the recommendations of

Caucus, electing Michael Del Grande as Chair

and Nancy Crawford as Vice-Chair.

St. Timothy Celebrates

Donation to Breakfast Program Students in Grades 2 and 3 were treated

to breakfast at Symposium restaurant on

Yonge north of Sheppard on December

2nd. They presented a cheque to

breakfast Club of Canada to support

school breakfast programs.

Face to Faith Video Conference at St. Anselm On Tuesday December 2nd students from St. Anselm School of the

TCDSB participated in an online videoconference through the Face to

Faith Program with Our Lady of Mercy School, A Roman Catholic

School in Potomac Maryland, United States.

St. Anselm discussed their participation in Me to We, and giving to the

less fortunate in a number of different ways. “By raising money in the

Year of Charity the students of St. Anselm feel the need to do so and

would want others to help us”. Our Lady of Mercy School, referred to

scripture as the Prodigal Son influenced them to show towards

compassion to others.

The students from both schools concluded their videoconference

with sharing similarities and differences between Canada and

the United States, Our Lady of Mercy and St. Anselm, and a

short reflection as to what was learned through the online

discussion.

WENTT Conference - Women Entering Non-Traditional Trades Over 500 young women from the Toronto Catholic District School Board took a look at a career in the

trades at the 2nd Annual Women Entering Non-Traditional Trades (WENTT) Conference on December

3rd held at Bishop Marrocco/Thomas Merton Catholic Secondary School.

Grand Opening of New Track St. Luigi Catholic School and Perth Public School celebrated the opening of the new track and

renovated playground.

Gingerbread Night at St. Charles Garnier Families of St. Charles Garnier School gathered for a fun evening of building Gingerbread houses. The

evening included hot chocolate and cookies and Christmas movies for the little ones.

Christmas Charity at St. Mary's Catholic Secondary At St. Mary's C.S.S., as part of their Christmas drive, the staff and students participated in an 'Adopt a

Family' initiative.

Concert for Seniors The choir and band from St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic School brought the sounds of the Christmas

season to the seniors at St. Hilda's Place.

Cavalcade of Lights St Francis of Assisi choir, led by Mr. Sean. Kelly kicked off the Little Italy Cavalcade of Lights. The

choir sang Mary's Boy Child and Momma Mary.

Dante Alighieri Staff Put Faith Into Action On Friday December 5th the staff members of Dante Alighieri Catholic Academy volunteered their time

and helped out at various food banks, parishes, senior centers, street patrol services, shelters of all kinds,

Religious radio and television stations, and the list goes on. It was a grounding and fulfilling experience

for everyone involved!

Spreading Christmas Cheer St. Anselm Catholic School students

visited Nine Twenty-One Millwood to

chat with residents and to perform some

traditional holiday music. A wonderful

afternoon was had by all.

Budding

Filmmakers

Attend Movie

Premier Students from the

Gifted Program at

Transfiguration of Our

Lord Catholic School

attended the Premier

of the Hobbit on

December 5th. They

were delighted to have

an opportunity to meet

the Director, Peter

Jackson.

O’Connor Student Recognized by Toronto

Police Senator O’Connor College School student

Dominique Rumball was recognized by the Toronto

Police Service for assisting a youth who was in

distress.

Advent Celebration and Tree Lighting St. Clare Catholic School hosted an advent celebration and tree lighting for area schools on December

12th. After a Family Advent Mass in St. Clare church, the community gathered in the adjacent parkette

to light a Christmas tree and enjoyed performances by Parafoné, popular musicians from Calabria, as

well as the school’s Choir and All Star Band. Adding to the festivities were the traditional treats such as

roasted chestnuts, hot chocolate and panettone.

5th Annual Santa's Workshop at St. Thomas More Families at St. Thomas More Catholic School donated new and gently used items and sold them to

interested students on Friday, December 12th for Santa’s Workshop Day. All proceeds go to purchase

goats through Free the Children.

International Students Christmas Party TCDSB's international students gathered at the Catholic

Education Centre on December 12th to celebrate

Christmas together with some music, entertainment, food

and friends.

Chum FM and St. Vincent

de Paul Toy Drive Congratulations to you all for a

job well done for our toy drive

and food drive! The St. Cyril

students and families

demonstrated tremendous charity

and donated over 260 toys and

several boxes of food during our

drive. As a result we delivered

gifts for 19 children from the St.

Vincent de Paul Society and the

remainder of the toys were picked

up by the CP24 Chum Christmas

Wish.

Cardinal Carter Hosts 1st Elementary Model UN Cardinal Carter Academy for the Arts hosted its first-ever Model United Nations Conference for 8

students on December 10th. 140 students representing 118 countries debated the broad range of critical

world issues during the all-day event being held at the TCDSB Catholic Education Centre.

MLSE Shares Christmas With

Students Kyle Lowry, Toronto Raptors Player,

visited Our Lady of Victory on Tuesday

morning where he and his wife surprised

35 of Our Lady of Victory's students with

a breakfast and Raptors merchandise. The

Raptors mascot and the Raptors Dance

Pack were also in attendance. Following

the breakfast, the students boarded a bus

called "Kyle's Toy Express" where they

were taken to Toys R Us at Sherway

Gardens and received a cart to fill with toys within 7 minutes. In the spirit of paying it forward, the

students were thrilled with the chance to buy gifts for their family and friends.

Giving Trees—Supporting Out of the Cold Programs Canadian Martyrs Catholic School Father Serra Catholic School

St. Francis of Assisi Welcomes Minister

St. Francis of Assisi Catholic School was pleased to

welcome Minister of Education Liz Sandals, TCDSB

Vice-Chair Nancy Crawford, Linda MacKay, Senior

Vice President of Retail, Savings and Investment, TD

Banking Group and Chris Markham, CEO of the

education non-profit OPHEA for the launch of Wallet

Wellness, a financial literacy resource produced by

OPHEA in partnership with TD.

BMTM World Cup This year marked the 10th edition of the Bishop

Marrocco/Thomas Merton World Cup. Former

students who were part of the soccer program

joined current students and were divided into

teams representing Portugal, Canada, Africa, The

Caribbean, South America, Central & North

America, Italy, etc.

This year, former principals were invited to share

some memories, and to join in the entertainment

with professional comedian and former BMTM

student Mike Rita.

Helping the Needy On Monday, December 14th the grade 1/2 class at Senhor Santo Cristo Catholic School demonstrated

charity by visiting and donating food to the St. Francis Table, a local shelter in Parkdale.

Student Featured on Global’s

Making a Difference Joseph Spahn-Vieira is a new grade 2

student at St. Brendan. Susan Hay

anchor/producer of Making a Difference on

Global News Hour filmed a story on Joey

with the Music Without Barriers Program. It

was selected to air as part of the Making a

Difference special airing on Global over the

holidays. Each year they choose 8 of the best

stories Susan features on her Making a

Difference segment throughout the year. It

ran on New Year’s Day.

Marshall McLuhan Catholic Secondary

School Advent Charitable Campaign:

“TAKE HEART!” McLuhan staff and students continued to extend

their generosity to those less fortunate. In the

Advent season, they centered their giving to

support an incredible organization that works

tirelessly to improve the lives of children in

developing countries: Sleeping Children Around

The Word (SCAW). SCAW provides bed kits

containing basic necessities, including a mattress,

school uniform and supplies. Every $35 purchases

a bed kit and this in turn saves a child’s life. Via

our Peer Ministry Team, the McLuhan community

worked together to raise over $15, 000 for this beautiful initiative.

St. Thomas More Students

Bring Cheer to

Providence Centre Students at St. Thomas More

visited Providence Centre on

December 17th to sing carols for

the patients and spread some

Christmas cheer. This is

an annual trip by the school’s

students at the long term

facility. Students strolled the

halls in the morning, singing

carols and, in the afternoon,

performed a concert in the

solarium.

Advent/Christmas Liturgy at

the Catholic Education Centre TCDSB welcomed the Heart of

Charity, created by students and staff

from Bishop Marrocco/Thomas

Merton Catholic Secondary School, to

the annual Advent/Christmas Liturgy

at the Catholic Education Centre. The

heart was unveiled and blessed during

the Mass.

St. Jerome Catholic School Toy Drive The student leaders collected toys to contribute to the Toy

Mountain Drive hosted by CTV studios. Over 120 toys

were collected to help make this year’s Christmas a special

one for other needy children in our city.

St. Vincent de Paul Catholic School Senior's Home Visit The primary students brought the sounds of Christmas to the residents of Copernicus Lodge on

December 18th.

ESL Students Visit Allan Gardens TCDSB ESL students visited Allan Gardens to enjoy the holiday display of poinsettias and take in the

snow covered scenery.

Skating at the ACC Students from St. Rose of Lima went skating at the ACC

during the intermission of the World Junior Hockey

Game (Canada-Russia) on Friday, and then watched the

game afterwards from the gondola hosted by Royal Bank

of Canada.

St. Stephen School’s Special Invite The Grade 1 and 2 students at St. Stephen

Catholic School were fortunate to get a very

special invitation to a Christmas party at Target

Canada. Target, along with First Book Canada

invited two schools from across Ontario to their

corporate head office to celebrate Christmas.

St. Basil the Great Senior Band Entertains Villa Colombo

Vaughn With Holiday Classics On Monday December 15th the senior band of the St. Basils Music

Department entertained the senior residences of Villa Colombo Vaughn.

The band showcased its versatility by entertaining the residence with

classic holiday songs and delighted them with well-known Italian

Medley’s and other popular music from their era. The senior home sang

and danced along to lively tunes

Premier Kathleen Wynne Visits

St. John XXIII The Hon. Kathleen Wynne, Premier of Ontario, dropped

in to the Christmas concert at St. John XXIII Catholic

School.

Spirit of Christmas On Tuesday December the 9th St. Joseph

Morrow Park had a special event for the

international students that was called

Spirit of Christmas. Approximately 58

students attended, along with the

settlement workers who support the

program, the Superintendent John Shain,

and the Principal, Guidance staff and

staff from SJMP.

A Professional Dance Lesson Under the guidance of professional dance instructor,

Alexandra Smith, the students of St. Jerome School

danced brilliantly for parents, caregivers and friends

on December 16th. The evening was capped off with

the children having special dance with their parents.

St. Bernard Visits Seniors On December 11th, the Italian Choir from St. Bernard

Catholic School visited the senior residents of Casa del

Zotto and Villa Colombo. The students were well

aware of being messengers of joy and love as their

Christmas caroling brought smiles and tears among the

senior residents.

Hour of Code On December 8th Mr. D’Aloisio’s Grade 5 class

participated in the HOUR OF CODE event that ran

from December 8th -12th. Students across the world

participated in a global event that advertised the

importance of teaching Computer Science. Many of the

students in Mr. D’Aloisio’s class completed their

classroom activities at school and continued with other

courses in computer science at home through

www.code.org. Each course is designed to teach logical

reasoning and problem solving through puzzles. These

courses provide a great introduction to a growing need:

Computer Programming. Happy coding.

Immaculate Conception Students can Ballroom Dance On the evening of Thursday, December the 18th the Grades 4 to 8 students of Immaculate Conception

School had a Ballroom Dance Performance! With the assistance and dedication of professional dance

instructor, Ms. Alexandra Smith, the students were eager and energetic in the creative expressions of

merengue, salsa, rumba, fox trot, cha cha, tango and waltz.

Sr. Basketball Captains Head to Keyano

College Pearce Buckley and Erwin Zapanza, captains of the

Sr. Boys Basketball team at Blessed Cardinal

Newman were offered athletic scholarships to

Keyano College in Fort McMurray, Alberta, for next

semester.

Family Christmas Party The St. Margaret School Community had yet another

successful festive Annual Family Christmas Party.

The school was particularly appreciative of the

donated baked goods for their bake sale from their

very own dedicated parent community bakers, and

there were a lot of happy raffle winners who went

home with their winnings.

Shakespeariance

On Monday, December 15th, the Gr. 7/8 students in Ms.

Snihur’s class at St. Bernard Catholic School were the

lucky recipients of a Shakespeariance workshop. This

interactive workshop presented Shakespeare in a way

that was accessible, interesting and fun for all who took

part.

Learn to Kick The Toronto FC’s community department and

coaching staff, visited Our Lady of Guadalupe for a

series of lessons. This was all part of Toronto FC’s

Learn to Kick program! The students at Our Lady of

Guadalupe learned some new soccer skills, were able

to get active, and of course had some fun. They had

leaders who were Student Ambassadors who did an

amazing job assisting their peers. Overall it was a

great experience for our school.

Donation to Angel Foundation Congratulations to the staff at St. Matthias Catholic

School. They raised money for the Angel Foundation

through their Survivor Pool, as part of their charity

plan for the year.

Christmas Around the World St. Francis Xavier Catholic School celebrated

Christmas Around the World on December

11th. The event was scheduled for the evening

of the dreaded snow storm, but the bad

weather did not deter parents from attending

and sharing in the Christmas spirit.

Our Lady of Guadalupe turned into

Santa’s Workshop On December 15th both kindergarten rooms at Our Lady of

Guadalupe Catholic School turned into Santa’s Workshop

and students and their families got together to celebrate ‘The

Spirit of Christmas’. Music and sing-along, Christmas stories,

Christmas movies, and much more contributed to a fun-filled

event.

Michael Power-St. Joseph High School Docudrama The Free The Children Club performed its 17th docudrama this year, which is a performance written and

performed by the students in which they raise awareness of social justice issues. From the donations

they were able to collect over $4000 which will go to funding the construction of our 19th classroom and

a clean water project in the school’s Adopt a Village program in India.

Math is Fun at Sacred Heart There are 36 elves riding in Santa’s sleigh. There are 8

more boy elves than girl elves. How many boy elves

were in Santa’s sleigh? How many girl elves were in

Santa’s sleigh? That was the question posed to the

entire school JK-8. Each class was divided into groups

and each was challenged to use their math knowledge to

figure out the math problem. Student groups took time

to collaborate on figuring out how to approach the

question. Fascinating and well thought out responses to the question were displayed in the gym for all

classes to experience. Math is fun at Sacred Heart!

Sharing and Learning with and through

Video-Based Technology in the TLLP This year, five teachers at Notre Dame, Gabriel

Roman Ayyavoo, Rosemary Paniccia, Lisette

Santos-DeSousa, Stephanie Dobbin, and Marco

Summaria are collaborating on a unique project

called Teaching and Learning with Hand-Held

Technology in the 21st Century Classroom that is

funded by the Teacher Learning Leadership

Program (TLLP) of the Ministry of Education.

In this cross-curricular project, involving Science,

Core French, Religion, and Communications and Technology disciplines, teacher are using iPads to

support students in developing 21st century skills of communication, collaboration, creativity, and

critical thinking.

Catholic Student Leadership Service Trip to Philippines 21 students and 2 teachers from the TCDSB gave up a good portion of their Christmas vacation to serve

the poor in Manila, Philippines. They visited some of the poorest areas, brought gifts, and worked with

the people in that region. To see photos and more information about their visit, check out their blog.

http://catholicstudentleadership.com/2014/12/27/philippines-service-leadership-experience-2014-15/

St. Basil Students Bounce into Action at Home and Away This year, the students at St. Basil college have raised the money to purchase and ship basketballs to

Rwanda. Graduate, Lisanne Comeau, working with Shooting Touch, a group that uses sport to teach

community and discipline, reached out to the SBC Phys. Ed department, asking for help. And our

students responded. In conjunction with the police from 31 Division, the community has raised over

$1,000.00, enough to send 40 basketballs to the youth in Kigali, Rwanda.

An afterschool club, BasAct, has also been busy making a difference. They have been candied from a

lolly log to raise money for Covenant House. Our teens have been showing the true meaning of charity

with their action.

““IT STARTS IN THE SCHOOLS” is published monthly throughout the school year. Events, locations and times are

subject to change. For more information, call 416-222-8282 Ext. 5314. This publication can be found on the Internet at

www.tcdsb.org, see “news”.

The Toronto Catholic District School Board educates more than 92,000 students from diverse

cultures and language backgrounds in 201 Catholic elementary and secondary schools,

serving close to half-a-million Catholic school supporters across the City of Toronto. As the

world’s largest publicly funded Catholic school system, we educate students in an inclusive

learning community rooted in the love of Christ, where they are challenged to grow in grace

and knowledge and to lead lives of faith, hope and charity.

At Toronto Catholic we transform the world through witness, faith, innovation and action.

Toronto Catholic Schools

January 2015

Toronto Catholic District School Board, 80 Sheppard Ave. E., North York, ON M2N 6E8

phone: 416-222-8282 website: www.tcdsb.org email: webmaster@tcdsb.org